Purge (Death Crusaders Motorcycle Club) (2 page)

I feel Blade take my hand,
linking his fingers in mine. Normally this small gesture would have given me
great comfort but today I feel nothing and I wonder if I ever will again or if
I can even afford too. If I had only stayed at Caye Caulker I could have just
gone on with my life believing she was living her dream and Blade was living
his as the leader of the Crusaders. Instead I come back to find the town I grew
up in no longer exists. It’s become a police state where certain individuals
have no basic human rights. The Crusaders have been run out of town, my house
is most likely gone and my best friend in the world has been reduced to a
painful memory. I have no job and nowhere to go but with Blade and I’m not even
sure I want to do that anymore.

This happy reunion I have
been waiting two years to have just got swallowed up in grief. I wonder if my
driver would be willing to just turn around and take me back to Belize. I stop
in my tracks.

“I want to go back Blade. I
want to return to Belize. There’s nothing here for me anymore.”

“What?”

“Come with me.” I plead. It’s
paradise.”

“A place without my club will
never be paradise; it won’t even be home.”

Blade raises his hand in the
air and twirls his finger around in a circular motion. Seconds later Piper and
two other guys appear at our sides.

“Let’s go.” He says to them.

“Where are we going?” I ask
him.

“Gold Hill. It’s the only
friendly place a man can go if he’s straddling a Harley. It’s also the new
location for the Death Crusader’s.”

I’m far too grief-stricken
and tired to protest so I just allow myself to be led back to the Land Rover.
There’s another SUV next to it. Piper drives again and Blade gets in next to
me. The others take the second SUV. The ride to Gold Hill takes about an hour.
I have to admit, it’s a beautiful town. It’s a lot like Whispering Pines, just
smaller by about half. On The way to Gold Hill I decide to ask if Piper knows
how my friend died. He has no reason to lie to me so maybe he’ll be honest
where Blade may say what sounds good to take the sting out of my mourning.

“Can I ask you something
Piper?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Do you know who my best
friend is…was?”

“I knew who she was but I
didn’t really know her.” He replies.

Now for the sixty-four
thousand dollar question. “Do you know the circumstances around her death?”

“I only know she died saving
another’s life and that the Whispering Pines PD considers her a hero.”

“I see.”

“But you should ask the guy
next to you. The person who really knows the whole story is her former patrol
partner. They were very good friends.”

“Thanks Piper.”

“Anytime ma’am.”

“Piper we’ve just spent five
days together in this box. I think can be on a first name basis.”

“Yes ma’a-  uh, sure thing
Jen.”

I wonder who her patrol
partner was. If I find out it was Mark I’m going to strangle myself. I wonder
if he is still around or if he got outted as an outlaw biker and thrown in jail
where he belongs in the first place.

“Hey uh Piper, can we stop
somewhere that I can pick up a burner phone?”

“No need. There are three or
four in here.”

“Don’t they already belong to
someone? I don’t want to be getting someone else’s calls in the middle of the
night.”

For an answer he opens the
glove box, fishes around and pulls out a phone that’s still in the packaging.
He tosses it back to me.

“It’s nothing fancy.” He
begins. “But it’ll do the job. The number is on a sticker on the back of the phone
and these things usually have a half of a battery on them so if you want to
call someone now you can.”

“Thanks Piper.”

“No problem Miss Jen.”

After five minutes of
pulling, tearing, and prying I finally get the thing out of its plastic prison.
I peel off the sticker that has the number on it and attach it to the back of
my driver’s license just in case I forget it. I pry off the back panel and put
in the sim card and the battery. After restoring the back panel I dial 441-4785
and it actually rings three times before I realize what I’m doing; calling
Alex. I wonder how many times I’m going to do that before her death really
sinks in. I disconnect and put the phone in my purse. I wonder if Blade is
pissed that I chose to ride with Piper again and not him. Right now I don’t
feel up to dealing with my feelings and I know that if I’m safe with him I’m
going to feel the full effect of losing my best friend. I’m not ready to do
that yet.

“Piper, would you mind
stopping and getting something to drink? Something other than wine that is.”

“Look back over your seat.
There should be a satchel on the floor. Inside that is you’ll find something to
drink.”

“Wait a second. I’ve been
holed up in here for five days and a drink has been within arms- reach the
whole time?”

“Sorry about that.” He replies
meekly. “It didn’t occur to-”

Suddenly my whole world
explodes around me! The window by my head turns into a million tiny missiles
shredding the right side of my face. Since I had just unbuckled my seat to get
at the satchel the impact threw my body across the seat and into the door on
the other side. The world around me spins madly as metal shrieks and protests
deafeningly loud. Sliding across the seat my head strikes the door handle
painfully before I slump to the floor between the front and back seats.

A brief silence follows,
punctuated by low moans from the driver’s seat and my own painful gasps. As I
struggle to my hands and knees my neck protests any movement. If it’s not
broken
I’ll
be one surprised chick. I’m about to sit up on my haunches
when I hear the unmistakable sounds of automatic gunfire. It’s hard to tell in
the confusion of battle but is sounds like bullets are coming from all sides. I
flatten back down on the floor as glass rains down on my head and back. It’s
only a matter of time before I’m hit if I haven’t already been shot in the
madness. I hurt all over so it’s hard to tell just what kinds of injuries I
have.

Suddenly there’s an insanely
loud burst of gunfire from inside the vehicle as Piper begins to return fire
with a vengeance! I don’t know what is shaking more, me or the Land Rover as
hundred so bullets pummel it. I feel the truck drop one by one as each tire
blows. My life, I realize can now be measured in split seconds as my inevitable
death draws precipitously near. I can feel the air creased above my head as the
bullets work their way lower and lower as the gunmen methodically shred what’s
left of our steel and fiberglass sanctuary. Gradually the volume of incoming
fire seems to relent a bit giving me the possibly false impression that we
might actually survive the attack when abruptly Piper stops shooting
altogether. Immediately the volume of bullets picks right back up. If I don’t
get out of here I’ll end up dead for sure. But if I even try to get out the
result is bound to be the same. Question is do I want to die in this four
wheeled coffin or out in the open and on my own two feet?

Using my elbows and knees I
scoot myself backwards towards the passenger side door. My plan is to just kick
it open. One quick glance backwards tells me it’s so riddled with bullets it’ll
probably just pop off its hinges. There also seems to be a lot less gunfire
coming from that way now. So I scoot about twelve more inches back and roll to
my back. I take a deep breath; lift my knees up to my chest, then kick at the
bullet riddled door with all my strength. As predicted the door practically
flies off the hinges and for the first time I don’t hear any shooting.

Suddenly a sweaty bloody
Blade appears in the doorway holding a smoldering assault rifle in his hands.
Seeing me he immediately drops it and reaches for me to help me out.

“Holy fuck!” Blade gasps.
“You’re fucking alive. I can’t believe it.”

For the first minutes he
can’t seem to say anything but the fact that he can’t believe I’m alive. And
me, I only barely feel alive. I ache from head to toe. The whole right side of
my face and head feels like it’s on fire and I can feel blood running down my
cheek and neck. I start to stand when a sharp pain shoots through my lower leg
causing me to go down to the ground.

“You’re hurt!” He exclaims.

“No…shit!” I gasp, pointing
to my face.

“But your leg Jenny. You’ve
been shot.”

And that’s when my brain
decides I need a break from reality and my whole world goes dark.

Chapter Two

Home

“Hang in there man! Just hang
in there.” Blade shouts over the wine of the engine.

I open my eyes as I slide
across the back seat crashing head first into the door as the SUV I’m riding in
careens around a corner. My hands grab wildly for something to hold onto before
we go around another corner. I look down at my leg. My jeans have been torn off
at the knee exposing the large bandage wrapped around my calf. There’s a
frighteningly large patch of red where the blood is oozing through.

A hoarse scream of sheer
agony erupts from the seat behind me. I scramble up on my hands and knees and
peer over the headrest. The first thing I notice is the blood; lots of it
smeared across the light beige leather seats. Slumped against the door is Piper
and he does not look good. He’s holding a white towel to his stomach and his
face is about the color of the towel. Most of the towel however, is bright red
from the man’s blood. Blade is sitting with him and holding a small medical kit
across his knees. He appears to be searching for something but it’s tough to do
anything in this wildly gyrating vehicle.

“Open those eyes Piper!”
Blade commands. “You stay with me brother, stay with me.”

Blade returns his attention
to the medical kit so I decide to take over the keeping Piper awake duties. It
helps me focus on something other than my own pain and fear.

“Piper!” I holler. “Wake the
hell up dude.”

Piper slowly opens his eyes
with a low groan. “You’re hurt.” He observes.

“It’s nothing.” I tell him.
“It doesn’t even hurt.” I lie. “You saved my life you know.” I tell him.

“Just doing my job ma’am.”

“No, your job was to drive me
back from Belize. Saving my life from angry gunmen; that’s going above and
beyond the call of duty.”

He flashes me a grim smile.
“Thank you ma’am.”

“What are you looking for?” I
ask Blade.

“We used to have some
morphine in here but I don’t see it now.”

“Yeah,” I reply cynically.
“One of your brothers probably got high with it. Which hospital we going to?”

“Sacred Heart.”

“Are you kidding? That’s not
even in Whispering Pines.” I protest.

“Can’t be helped.” Blade says
to me. “We take him to a hospital anywhere near here and we’ll likely be made.”

“But your friend has a
serious wound. He needs medical attention faster than that.”

“He knows the drill Jen. You
get shot you either go to a veterinarian who is a friend of the club or you
just go home and suffer in silence.”

“So we’re just going home?” I
shout.

“No, I said we’re taking him
to Sacred Heart in Foster City. We’ll pull up to the emergency exit, roll him
out and take off. That’s a far as I’m bending the rules Jen.”

I open my mouth to protest
just as we screech around another corner causing me to scramble for purchase as
I get flung across the seat and into the passenger side door. More grunts and swearing
from the back seat tell me our patient is still alive and struggling to remain
that way.

“Three minutes out!” Shouts
our driver.

“You know you can just drop
me off at the corner up there.” Piper tells us. “I can walk a block to the
hospital.”

“We’re not going to go this
far and take the chance you can’t walk that far.” Blade replies much to my
relief. “We drop you at the entrance. That’s not negotiable.”

I look out the window. A sign
with an arrow pointing towards the emergency entrance looms ahead. Our driver
mashes the brake, makes a hard left and we’re a half a block from the emergency
entrance.

“Alright Piper get ready.”
Blade hollers.

Piper, with Blade’s help
scoots over to the passenger’s side door. He puts his weight into it as our
truck screeches to a halt. Blade grabs the door handle and throws his weight
into the door. It flies open and Piper literally pops out like a cork on a wine
bottle and hits the cement landing with a roll. Blade pulls the door shut even
as our driver hits the gas and we shoot across the landing towards the exit. I
look back just in time to see two medics pulling up to him with a gurney. He’ll
be in safe hands. He’ll probably end up in jail if he’s got warrants like most
outlaw bikers but I guess that’s better than death.

Funny thing, now that Piper
is out of our hands and we’re heading back home my own pain returns with a
vengeance causing me to moan in spite of myself. Blade immediately climbs over
the seat and sits down next to me but he doesn’t say anything. He just sits
there in stony silence staring out the window. He and Piper must have been
close.

“You and Piper, you guys were
good friends?”

“He’s a brother.” He barks.

“Yeah but your club is pretty
big. There’s bound to be guys you don’t particularly like;

No?”

“No.”

So much for drawing him out.
I look down. He’s got what I assume is Piper’s gun in his lap, one hand
clenching it. I decide to try a new tact.

“Show me how to use it.” I
say to him.

“What?” He asks surprised.

“You keep sticking guns in my
hands and telling to just point and shoot. Why don’t you show me how to hold it
for starters?”

“Well…you ah grab
here…tightly, like you’re afraid it’s going to jump out of your hands.”

Over the next twenty minutes
or so I get the finer points of firearm safety and how to hold and shoot a 9mm
handgun. Now I kinda feel like if I was ever asked to use one I maybe
could
hit the broad side of a barn. Our lesson ends as we pull into the parking lot
of the Lucky Rabbit’s Foot Bar and Grill.

“This is it?” I ask in
surprise. This is not what I was expecting. Clearly there’s a story to be told
here.

“It’s larger than it looks.”
He explains. The actual meeting place is beneath the bar in the basement. There
are also eight bachelor pads connected to the bar and we own two large houses
at the end of the block, but yeah, that’s it. We’ve been forced into a nomadic
existence in order to survive. You saw the signs on the way into town didn’t
you?”

“I did.” I reply through
clenched teeth. My leg is really beginning to hurt again.

“Not only can we not wear our
cuts in that town but we really can’t ride our motorcycles in there without
getting stopped every five minutes by cops. They run that town like a police
state.”

“Wow.” Clearly there’s a
story to tell here. They must have been going through hell while I was sunning
myself in Belize. “What happened after I ran out?”

A dark look crosses his face
and I know I’ve touched a deep nerve. “It’s a long story. One that should be
told in the comfort of one’s home. You in the meantime need to get your wound
looked at. “

I won’t argue that. I don’t
like the idea of having an untreated bullet wound in my body. Our driver kills
the engine and he comes around to the door and both he and Blade proceed to get
me out of the truck and into the bar without my feet touching the ground. Once
we get inside they carry me around to the side of the bar and through a door
that says private on it. We pass two doors on the right then go through the
first door on the left. It opens into a large room that actually looks like
some kind of ward where sick or injured people are treated. The men carry me to
a bed and lie me down gently on the clean white sheets.

“A friend of the club is a
nurse. She’ll be here in a few minutes and she’ll get you fixed up.”

“Thanks.” I groan. “How come
you didn’t bring Piper here?”

“While Nancy has the knowhow
to treat bullet wounds, Piper needs access to surgery and obviously we don’t
have a hospital hidden back here so…”

“Got it.”

I’m about to ask more
questions when there’s a soft knocking on the door.

“Come in.” Blade says.

The door opens and in walks a
tall dark haired woman, may be forty years old with an air of professionalism
and confidence about her. Suddenly I’m not worried anymore. Our driver excuses
himself and Blade kneels by my side.

“I’m going to let Nancy work
her magic here without me getting in the way. When you’re all fixed up I’ll
come back in and check on you. You’re in good hands Jen; the best actually.”

I nod thanks. I am getting
really warn out from the constant pain over the last hour and could really use
some pain medication and some sleep. While she works to clean my wound she
distracts me with casual talk.

“You I haven’t seen before.
How do you know Blade?”

“I used to live here up until
a couple years ago. So I’ve known him for a few years I guess.”

“I didn’t realize he had an
old lady.” She pries.

“He doesn’t.” I reply back a
little too sharply.

It’s always a good idea to be
pleasant to the one fixing you up, especially when it doesn’t cost you a dime.

“Oh come on, I can see the
way you two look at each other. And he certainly wouldn’t have called me in for
a simple flesh wound on a non-member.”

“I think that’s more than a
simple flesh wound.” I reply stiffly.

“No, it’s a flesh wound. The
bullet winged you. I wouldn’t normally give anything more than ibuprofen for
the pain but he insisted you get completely pain free so…”

She produces a syringe and
needle with a clear liquid inside.

“Whatever that is,” I begin.
“I don’t need it.”

“Oh I’m sure you don’t.” She
says. “But Blade ordered it so he’ll be pissed at me if I don’t make you
comfortable.”

Then she takes my arm and
before I can protest further she jabs the needle in. At first I don’t feel a
thing. But after a minute I begin to feel deliciously warm and tingly from head
to toe. The pain is gone and I feel like I’m queen for a day and on top of the
world. If I’d known I was going to get this shot I’d have volunteered to get
shot; totally worth the pain, every darn second of it.

“Enjoying yourself?” She
asks.

I decide not to respond. I
don’t want to disturb my bubble of goodness. My nurse tinkers around for a bit
before sitting down in a chair and picking up a book. I guess her orders are to
watch me. Oh well, I don’t care now. There ain’t a thing in this world that can
take away my good mood now. Well, except for running out of medicine that is.
Jeez, I’m starting to think like a drug addict or something. This is some
potent stuff this Morphine. At least I think it’s Morphine. I don’t know what
else it could be. All the other stuff comes in pill form. For the next few
minutes I content myself with my candy land of thoughts until my eyes get too
heavy to keep open and I finally give in to the desire to sleep.